Capital Repertory Theatre (also called Capital Rep or simply theREP) is a 309-seat professional regional theatre in Albany, New York. Capital Rep is the only theatre in the Capital District that is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). As a member, it operates under collective bargaining agreements with Actors' Equity Association and other theatre worker unions.[1]
The theatre relocated to its new home at 251 N. Pearl St in Albany, New York in 2021, and is one of three venues affiliated with Proctors Collaborative.
Artistic staff include Producing Artistic Director Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, Associate Artistic Director Margaret E. Hall, along with associate artists Gordon Greenberg, Barbara Howard, Stephanie Klapper, Kevin McGuire, Jean-Remy Monnay, Yvonne Perry, Josh D. Smith and Freddy Ramirez.[2]
History
Lexington Conservatory Theatre, 1976
The theatre's predecessor was Lexington Conservatory Theatre in Lexington, New York, founded in 1976 by artistic director Oakley Hall III. In 1978, Hall suffered a traumatic brain injury, ending his career. That October, LCT staff began to explore developing a resident theatre in Albany.[3]
On April 18, 1979, Lexington Conservatory executive director Michael Van Landingham and artistic director Abraham Tetenbaum held a press conference at the EBA Dance Studio in Albany, NY. They announced that the company would form a theatre in downtown Albany that followed a fall-winter-spring season, to be known as Capital Repertory Company or "Capital Rep." While they had reviewed various buildings in search of a suitable facility, they had decided that refurbishing a non-theatre building into a 450-seat theatre was the most viable option. "Basically, we decided to come to Albany for three reasons," said Van Landingham during the press conference. "We found 40 percent of our patrons last season came down to us from the Capital District; there's no professional theater in this city during the winter, and most importantly, we all really liked the place."
On April 19 and 20, the company presented a series of events called "The Break In", intended to orient the community to the theatre company and its work. It was the first event to carry the Capital Rep name. The event included music and video presentations, a discussion with director Lev Shekhtman, and selections of scenes from past productions.[4][5][6]
On March 21, 1980, the company produced The Tavern by George M. Cohan at the Egg Theatre in Albany, the first full production under the Capital Rep name. Directed by future producing artistic director Peter Clough, it starred company members Michael J. Hume, Court Miller, Janni Brenn, Patricia Charbonneau, Sofia Landon Geier and Steve Hytner. "The premiere...was a completely auspicious one," according to critic James R. Gray, "charming enough to boost the new troupe into strong contention in its first "real" season next fall." "The idea is to make Albany the hub of our operations," Van Landingham told The Knickerbocker News prior to opening night. "We want to construct a network of productions, centered here." He described ambitious plans alongside the challenges of moving to Lexington to start Lexington Conservatory, in a remote location, and noted the success they found despite naysayers. "There's great satisfaction of doing something everyone says can't be done."[7][8][9] In July, the company announced that it would take up residence at Page Hall for its new season, on the University of Albany campus. At the invitation of SUNY dean John W. Shumaker, the 93-person company would receive free performance space in exchange for providing learning opportunities for students and faculty for the college. The projected budget for the operation was $188,874.[10]
An editorial in the Troy Times Record noted the trepidation of some, regarding the venture, as a professional company at Cohoes Music Hall had recently closed: "To survive, the Capital Repertory Company will need the support of everybody who believes that a major region of the United States needs a professional theater to augment the busy community theater already existing."[11]
In October 1980, Michael Van Landingham announced that the theatre would not return to Lexington House and instead move permanently to Albany.[12]
In December 1980, the group began its first full season as Capital Rep at Page Hall in Albany.
At the close of the 1981 season, the theatre faced mounting debts and an uncertain future. Executive director Michael Van Landingham resigned that June.[13]
On August 31, 1981, Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd met with recently appointed Producing Artistic Directors Bruce Bouchard and Peter Clough, which secured the fledgling theatre with a new space in a former supermarket on North Pearl Street owned by the city of Albany.[14]
At a press conference on November 12, Mayor Corning announced a rent-free, five-year lease of the former Grand Cash Market, which included the city paying for utilities and heat for at least the first year. Clough and Bouchard expressed optimism amidst the need to raise $225,000 for an operating budget, as well as to address an accumulated debt from previous years' deficit. A new board of directors was being organized, with support noted from local community leader Lewis A. Swyer, along with in-kind support from various groups including architecture firm Einhorn, Yaffe, Prescott and Krouner. The theatre planned to open for its new season in March 1982 with Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn, and teased that the season might include a show directed by Albany native William Devane.[15][16]
The Market Theatre, former facility at 111 North Pearl Street
After extensive construction, the Market Theatre opened on March 5, 1982 and was the theatre's home for the next 39 years.[17][18]
In 1995, the Board of Trustees appointed Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill as the producing artistic director.[19]
In 2021, the theatre moved to 251 North Pearl Street.[20]
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley.
The Egg is a performing arts venue in Albany, New York. Named for its shape, the building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, and built between 1966 and 1978. It is located in the northeast corner of the Plaza. It has become an icon of New York's Capital District due to its unusual shape and central location. The Egg is owned by the state of New York and managed by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation a not-for-profit that was created in 1979 to manage the performing arts facility in the Empire State Plaza.
Trinity Repertory Company is a non-profit regional theater located at 201 Washington Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The theater is a member of the League of Resident Theatres. Founded in 1963, the theater is "one of the most respected regional theatres in the country". Featuring the last longstanding Resident Acting Company in the U.S., Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works, including an annual production of A Christmas Carol, for an estimated annual audience of 110,000. In its 52-year history, the theater has produced nearly 67 world premieres, mounted national and international tours and, through its MFA program, trained hundreds of new actors and directors. Project Discovery, Trinity Rep's pioneering educational outreach program launched in 1966, annually introduces over 15,000 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut high school students to live theater through matinees as well as in-school residencies and workshops. As of 2016, Trinity Rep's educational programs serve students in around 60% of Rhode Island schools, and it has a 9 million USD annual budget.
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W. Mason, playwright Lanford Wilson, director Rob Thirkield, and actress Tanya Berezin, all of whom were veterans of the Caffe Cino. The plan was to establish a pool of artists — actors, directors, playwrights and designers — who would work together in the creation of plays. In 1974, The New York Times critic Mel Gussow acclaimed Circle Rep as the "chief provider of new American plays."
Steve Hytner is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Kenny Bania on the NBC series Seinfeld.
Seattle Rep is a major regional theater located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann. It received the 1990 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
The San Diego Repertory Theatre is a performing arts company in San Diego, California.
Sofia Landon Geier is a television soap opera writer and actress. She is also credited as Sofia Landon or Sophia Landon.
Kansas City Repertory Theatre is a professional resident theater company serving the Kansas City metropolitan area, and is the professional theater in residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC).
The St. Louis Repertory Theater is a repertory theater, based in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is often referred to locally simply as "The Rep". Hana S. Sharif is the Artistic Director and Danny Williams is the Managing Director.
Tony Taccone is an American theater director, and the former artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California.
Oakley "Tad" Hall III was an American playwright, director, and author. The co-founder and first artistic director of Lexington Conservatory Theatre, in 1978 he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a fall from a bridge; he spent decades in recovery and in the process of creating a new life.
Lexington House is an historic riverfront hotel located in Catskill Park on the south side of the Schoharie Creek in the Town of Lexington in Greene County, New York. Lexington House was built about 1883 as a middle class resort and is a large, three-story frame building arranged in a modified L-shaped configuration. It features Italianate and Eastlake design elements. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, it is notable for its historic features and for its long history in arts and professional theatre.
The Actor's Workshop was a theatre company founded in San Francisco in 1952. It was the first professional theatre on the west coast to premiere many of the modern American classics such as Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, and the world dramas of Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter. For the 1953–1954 season, the Workshop offered six plays: Lysistrata, by Aristophanes; Venus Observed, by Christopher Fry; Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller; a revival of Playboy; The Cherry Orchard, by Anton Chekhov; and Tonight at 8.30, by Noël Coward. On April 15, 1955, the Actor's Workshop signed the first Off-Broadway Equity contract to be awarded outside New York City.
Lexington Conservatory Theatre was an equity summer theatre company in the Catskills town of Lexington, New York. Co-founded in 1976 by a group of professional theatre artists including Oakley Hall III, Michael Van Landingham and Bruce Bouchard, the theatre operated for five seasons at the historic Lexington House, a former hotel turned artist retreat. Hall was seriously injured in a fall from a bridge during the summer of 1978. That summer and Hall's life in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury were the subjects of the documentary The Loss of Nameless Things.
Jean Cocteau Repertory was a nonprofit resident theatre company in the Bowery area of East Village, Manhattan, New York City.
Elizabeth Diggs is an American playwright. She is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.
Grand View is the first produced play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy. Its world premiere was at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, NY, starring prolific television actor Robert Hogan.
Court Miller (1952–1986) was an American actor most notable for starring in the Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy.
References
↑ "Who We Are". League of Resident Theatres. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
↑ "Artistic Leadership". Capital Repertory Theatre. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
